regional medical center news from FierceHealthcare

A group of former employees of a Miami-based hospital have been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, accused of involving the hospital in a kickback scheme with a medical supply company that Read more...

A growing but controversial hospital chain has agreed to acquire three Tenet hospitals, expanding its network of facilities that reject all forms of managed care contracts. Hospitals included in the Read more...

A group of 23 hospitals have joined Blue Cross of California's new inpatient pay-for-performance program, which is structured to give the facilities adjustments to their inpatient fixed-payment Read more...

The death of a patient in a Plantation, FL emergency department has re-surfaced persistent questions over whether hospitals nationwide are creating quality problems by using fill-in "agency" nurses Read more...

HCA this week has become the latest to pile onto Pharmed Group, accusing the formerly successful supply company of rigging the purchasing process at one of its hospitals to collect cash for Read more...

Fed up with accusations one of its hospitals has engaged in Medicare fraud and operational problems, a Texas hospital has gotten a judge to issue an order which will bare the identity of a persistent blogger critic. Nashville-based Essent Healthcare is forcing the Internet service provider hosting blog "The-Paris-site" to cough up the blog owner's name, not to mention the identities of several other people who posted critical follow-on …

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Hospitals are pouring big bucks into expansions across the U.S., but the trend is particularly marked in Arizona, whose hospital infrastructure has fallen behind as the state has grown. Right now, the state only has two inpatient beds per 1,000 residents, compared with an average of 2.8 inpatient beds per 1,000 nationwide. In response, the state's hospitals have set plans for $3.3 billion worth of building over the next five years. The construction process will add about 2,900 beds across …

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Triggered by a newspaper's disclosure of details on the sale of a medical practice to a local hospital authority, a North Carolina state Senator has filed a bill which would make such contracts confidential. The newspaper, the Wilkes Journal-Patriot, had sued the Wilkes Regional Medical Center Hospital Authority to get details on a physician buyout contract, under which the medical center paid $650,000 to buy the assets of a local gastroenterologist's practice. The medical center …

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A group of top officials with the British National Health Service are visiting Cleveland Regional Medical Center to learn more about the hospital's pay-for-performance program. The British officials are hoping to pick up tips on how to better run its existing pay-for-performance program, which has been so successful that physician bonuses busted the program's budget during the first year. Cleveland Regional was a top performer in the first phase of the …

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In a complicated spat involving contract disputes, a fight for high-margin services and long-standing bad blood between two competing hospitals, a Georgia cardiologist backed by one of the facilities is suing to regain his privileges at the other. Dr. John Madonna Jr. has sued Satilla Regional Medical Center of Waycross, GA, asking the courts to force Satilla to re-establish his privileges there. Madonna had formerly worked under a contract held by Baptist Specialty Physicians (BSP), …

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